Norah M. Holland

The Unchristened Child - Poem by Norah M. Holland

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Alanna! Alanna! Within the churchyard's roundThere's many graves of childer there; they lie in holy ground.But yours is on the mountain side beneath the hawthorn tree,O sweet one, my fleet one, that's gone so far from me.

Alanna! Alanna! When that small mound was madeNo mass was sung, no bell was rung, no priest above it prayed;Unchristened childer's souls they say may ne'er see Heaven's light–O lone one, my own one, where strays your soul to-night?

Alanna! Alanna! This life's a weary one,And there's little time for thinkin' when the hours of work are done,And the others have forgotten, but there's times I sit apart,O fair one, my dear one, and hold you in my heart.

Alanna! Alanna ! If I were Mary mildAnd heard outside the gates of Heaven a little cryin' child,What though its brow the chrisom lacked, I'd lift the golden pin,O bright one, my white one, and bid you enter in.

Alanna! Alanna! The mountain side is bare,And the winds they do be blowing and the snows be lying there,And unchristened childer's souls, they say, may ne'er see Heaven's light,O lone one, my own one, where strays your soul to-night?